Rural Portugal, peaceful and uncrowded rural nature in Portugal's unspoilt secluded Alentejo borderlands.
Vale Lourenço and the Ribeira da Arronches, secret Alentejo, special places to stay in rural Portugal. The valley to the South of the 1025m peak of São Mamede, Horta das Nascentes (Garden of Springs) gives birth to a number of springs which join to create the mountain stream Ribeira da Arronches. The road winds its way down from near the peak São Mamede, joins the valley and meets the ribeira at a small bridge which demarcates the top of Vale Lourenço. Quinta Azenha do Ramalho is at the high end of Vale Lourenço where the ribeira cuts through steep schist and quartzite. Further downstream the valley opens out into farmland around the hamlets of Montinho and Monterecos. The road runs along further forested land and takes you a few kilometres more to the picturesque village of Alegrete.
During the dryness of the summer months the ribeira gives an abundant source of water for the farmers in the valley who use it to irrigate their land and crops. Along with the spring water the goats, sheep and a few cattle keep the rich red schistous soil fertile and crops grow rapidly in the sunshine from spring until autumn. Farming in Vale Lourenço is barely mechanised and the terraced land is more accessible to a mule drawn plough than a tractor. The traditional farming methods seen here keep this part of the world unspoilt and in harmony with the natural surroundings. As the population diminishes with no offspring to carry on the traditional way of life, one can only speculate how long this valley will be farmed in a way that appears to be a rural idyll.
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